That Damn Dork
by whats-wrong-eren
Summary: Sayomi Sakamoto is quiet. She joined the Survey Corps becuase she wanted to get out and avenge her friend's deaths. More importantly, she runs into a certain Titan Shifter in all his dorky glory
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: If anyone read my other story; I know it's the same name, I'm not good with coming up with a different character for each story. I is sorry. But, this is finished right now, I'm uploading all of it at once! So, yeah! Finished story guys! WOO! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own SnK.**

* * *

"Rise and shine, girls!" Petra yelled cheerfully as she beat on a pot with a wooden spoon. There was a collective groan from the two girls in the room. I cracked open one eye to see Petra's bright red hair bouncing as she skipped past my bed. I spat some of my long brunette hair out of my mouth and opened my other eye groggily. Sighing, I sat up with much difficulty (I fell back down at least four times before I finally sat upright.) and looked around the room to see my food obsessed brunette friend had fallen out of bed and was currently clawing at the blankets whilst groaning in annoyance. "Captain Levi will be inspecting your room in exactly two hours!"

With that statement, Petra slipped out of the room to go wake the girls in the next room. Sasha and I looked at each other with wide eyes. Lance Corporal Levi, the clean freak of the Scouting Regiment and Humanity's Strongest, would be inspecting our rooms for cleanliness. Sasha let out a blood curdling scream and rushed to the closet to get cleaning supplies. I immediately jumped up and darted around the room frantically, shoving things here and there just hoping Levi wouldn't notice. We really didn't have enough time to clean this monstrosity of a room. Sasha soon returned juggling an armful of cleaning supplies.

"For humanity's sake, Levi's gonna kill us, Sayomi!" Sasha cried as she dropped everything onto her now made bed. "How could we let it get this messy!? We knew he does surprise inspections!"

"Sasha!" I yelled over her babbling. She stopped and looked at me fearfully, tears almost spilling down her cheeks. We had all heard what had happened to the last person who hadn't lived up to Levi's expectations; they had to clean the entire castle until Levi was happy with it. Did I mention they had to use a toothbrush? "Focus! We can do this!"

We both took a deep breath and went at super speed 'cleaning' the room. After what seemed like an eternity, we replaced the cleaning supplies to where they were supposed to be and sprinted back to our room as Levi came down the hallway. I thought I heard crying from down the hallway but I told myself I was imagining things and that Levi _wasn't_ going to kill us. Sasha and I quickly cleaned ourselves up a bit in the small mirror before Levi got to the room. My hazel eyes had bags under them, but I ignored them. I quickly brushed through my long brunette hair and scurried out of the way for Sasha, who threw her hair into a messy ponytail. We held our breath as we awaited Levi's arrival.

"Oi, brats, out." Levi commanded as he threw open the door. Sasha and I immediately fled the room and stood nervously in the hallway.

"D-d'you think we did good enough?" Sasha whispered. I gulped and nodded after a moment's hesitation. I didn't really think we had done good enough, but I didn't want Sasha to have a meltdown. We heard footsteps coming back towards the door and stiffened. "He's coming back!"

Before I could respond, the door was violently thrown open to reveal a completely pissed off Levi. Sasha let out a strangled sob of terror and almost fell to the ground. I caught her elbow before she collapsed and continued to watch Levi intently. If he was gonna stab us, I wanted to know when.

"Sakamoto, Braus?" He said through clenched teeth. Sasha cowered under his gaze, but I remained standing tall. It didn't matter if I was _actually_ scared to death, I couldn't show it. "You will be in my office in twenty minutes unless you want to be decapitated."

"Yes, Sir!" I saluted, pounding my right hand over my heart and hooking my left behind my back. Sasha had a bit of a delayed reaction, but managed to do a salute. "Thank you for you time, Captain!"

I doubted he'd even heard what I'd said, he was already stalking away to the next room. When he entered I let a out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. Cautiously, I dragged Sasha back into the room to find it was still intact, much to my relief.

* * *

I trudged through the hallway with my eyes cast to the floor as I made my way to Levi's office. Sasha was behind me, whimpering. I wondered what he would make us do this time. I doubted that he would go easy on us. All too soon, we were standing in front of his door. I heard nothing on the other side of the door. Hoping he wasn't there, I knocked softly.

"Come in." Levi barked. I sighed quietly and eased the door open. To my surprise, not only was Levi there, but Eren and Jean were also there. They had been standing in uncomfortable silence for who know how long. Levi glared at Sasha and I menacingly. He beckoned us forward to where Eren and Jean were rigidly standing. He pressed his fingers together and continued to glare at us. "Jaeger, Braus, Kirschtein, I expected this from you. Sakamoto however, I expected better than… _that._"

"But, I had the entire basement to c-" Eren started pleadingly.

"Oi! Brat, did I tell you to speak!?" Levi snapped at the dark haired teen. Eren stopped talking and cast his turquoise gaze to the floor in defeat. Levi returned his stare to me. "So, what is your excuse?"

"Sir, I had little time to clean up my space and we also had some difficulties with the cleaning supplies." I replied. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Difficulties?" He questioned in his usual bored manner. I nodded. "What kind of 'difficulties?"

"We couldn't figure out how to use most of it…" I answered. Jean snickered next to me and received a kick from Eren. Jean glowered at the shorter boy but didn't dare say anything with the corporal there. "We did our best to figure it out, but we didn't have enough time to figure all of it out."

"Well, then it's lucky that you don't have to use any regular cleaning supplies." Levi stated, kicking his feet up onto the table. Jean, Eren, and Sasha all eagerly leaned forward a bit. I stayed still, knowing this was just a trick. "Instead, you'll be washing every horse, mucking every stall, and cleaning all the tack."

Three sighs as the other three soldiers stood back up. I could see the amusement in the corporal's eyes as he saw their reactions. I rubbed my eyes sleepily and set my gaze to the ground.

"Get the hell out of my office and do your chores!" Levi boomed, pointing at the door. The other three basically trampled over each other to get out of the office. I calmly waited for the mess of limbs to get through the door and followed after Sasha's terrified screams as she sprinted to the stables. "And close the damn door, shitty brat."

I turned and pulled the door closed then jogged after Sasha, Eren and Jean.

* * *

"This is all your fault, Horseface!" Eren snarled. I could hear them all the way across the yard. "If you hadn't come down to set that stupid prank, I wouldn't be here!"

"Well if you hadn't screwed up my gear I wouldn't have been setting a prank in the first place!" Jean shot back. I rounded the corner and saw Eren's fist was clamped around Jean's collar as he pinned him against the stable wall. Jean stopped screaming at Eren and watched me as I walked in, pink painting his face. I didn't really know any of them very well. I knew _of _them, but I very rarely spoke to them. I had gotten second in Cadet Rankings. Mostly everyone else in the top ten were good friends (in Eren and Jean's case, frenemies), but I was a shy bookworm. I was only friends with the energetic Sasha because we were roomed together, but anyone else was practically a stranger.

I heard Eren groan in annoyance and then a crash. I looked over to see Eren stalking away and Jean in the middle of a pile of pitchforks and shovels. He yelled in rage and struggled to get out of the pile. Somehow he managed to hit himself in the forehead with the blade of a shovel. I stifled a laugh and hurried away to find Sasha.

"Sayomi~" Sasha sang as she skipped over to me. Her previous terror had been forgotten and she was back to her old self again. "Don't you think we should assign people different chores?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Let's get the guys and pull straws." I suggested. Sasha beamed and skipped away to find Jean while I went to get Eren. I walked through the maze of stalls, peering into each stall to see if the emerald eyed boy was inside. "Eren?"

"Yeah uhh… What's your name again?" Eren asked as he stepped out of a stall a few doors down. He smiled at me sheepishly.

"Sayomi." I responded quickly. Eren nodded and shot me a smile. "We're going to pull straws to see who gets what chore."

"Okay. Do we have straw?" Eren asked stupidly. I gave him a look.

"Eren, we're in a stable, there's hay everywhere." I muttered quietly while looking up at him, because my head only came up to his shoulder. I was one of the shortest soldiers in the Scouts at about 5' 1.2". Yes, that '.2' does matter. It made me feel a little less short.

"Right." He laughed. When we caught up with Sasha and Jean, we found that they had picked a bunch of straws that were _exactly the same length_.

"Do you understand the concept of picking straws?" I asked while pinching the bridge of my nose out of habit. Sasha and Jean both made noises that meant 'no, I was just guessing.'. "You have a bunch of _different lengthed straws_ and you make them all look the same in your hands. The person who picks the shortest gets the worst job and the one who picks the longest gets their choice. Understand?"

I dropped my my hand down and saw the other three were nodding. Sighing, I went to get the right straws. When I had found four different lengthed ones, I evened out the top and hid the bottom then held them out for the other three to pick one. Sasha picked the longest, so she got to pick whatever she wanted, Jean picked the second longest, he got second pick, Eren got third longest, meaning I got stuck with the worst; mucking the stalls. I rubbed my eyes with one hand and sighed.

"Alright, Sasha?" I prompted tiredly.

"Washing horsies!" She squealed happily. She immediately ran away and started cuddling with a horses head. I shook my head and looked at Jean.

"Jean?"

"I'll take the tack." He muttered shyly. What the hell was wrong with him? I brushed it off as him just being stupid and turned to Eren.

"Eren?" I let out a yawn at the end of his name making it sound more like 'ErAWWN'.

"I'll help you muck the stalls; it's more of a two person job." He responded after a few more seconds of thinking. I smiled warmly at him, thankful that someone realized I would need some help. Being small has it's advantages; everyone helps you with everything because they think you can't do it yourself.

"Wait! I'll help muck the stalls!" Jean offered. I gave him a confused look.

"Why?" I asked incredulously, shaking my head slightly.

"Because- uh- Eren doesn't want to do it, do you Eren? I would rather do it!" Jean sputtered.

"You already chose, you have to stick with it." I lied. I really didn't want to work with Jean the clumsy idiot. I'd rather work with Eren the regular idiot. He gave me a puppy-dog face. "It's the rules."

He sighed in defeat and trudged to the tack room. I let out a sigh of relief and started towards the destroyed pile of shovels and picked out two shovels, two pitchforks and two sacks of apples. I slung the two sacks over one shoulder and held the four tools in my hand pointing upwards and leaning against my other shoulder. As I walked past, I saw Eren was struggling to get the wheelbarrow out of a tight space.

"Eren; come hold these, I'll get it." I offered. He nodded and took the supplies all at once and almost fell down under the weight. "Heavy, huh?"

"And I thought you were weak!" Eren exclaimed as he struggled to hold everything. He realized a moment after he uttered those words what he said and quickly apologized. "I didn't mean that! I just meant that-"

"It's okay. I get that a lot." I muttered as I pulled out the wheelbarrow with ease. I took the supplies back from Eren after setting the wheelbarrow down and headed to the very last stall. Eren stumbled after me, almost crashing the wheelbarrow at least twice. I set the shovels and pitchforks up against the wall and yanked the door to the stall open. The horse looked up from it's hay and whinnied softly. I held an apple out and the horse cheerfully ate it. After I gave it a treat, the horse would follow me with no resistance. That's the first thing I learned about these horses in particular. I took the horse's halter and led it out of the stall and over to where Sasha eagerly stood awaiting her 'horsey friends'. I passed the horse to Sasha and went back to the stall only to find Eren was already half done with it. "We need to give Sasha some time to wash the horse you know?"

"I know." Eren grunted as he shovelled another pile of horse crap into the wheelbarrow. "But, I figure, we go fast then we'll have time to eat some of the apples ourselves and some time to relax."

"I guess so. But, I'm doing the next stall, you're not doing all the work." I said quietly.

"Alright." Eren said. He threw the last scoop in and took the wheelbarrow outside to empty it.

I grabbed two apples from the sack and dunked it in a barrel of clean water next to me. When Eren returned, I tossed the apple to him. Since he wasn't expecting an apple to be launched at him, he caught it and then juggled it, trying to catch it again. Finally it bounced off his head and landed in his hand. He blinked in confusion as he looked down at the fruit that had just assaulted him.

"Was… Was I just beat up by a fruit?" He asked, looking back up at me with a goofy grin on his face. I simply nodded and continued to munch on my apple. Eren sighed and came to sit next to me on a hay bale. "I didn't mean what I said you know?"

"I know." I nodded. "I told you, I'm used to it. I take it as a compliment. It means that I'm stronger than anyone else as small as me… I guess."

"That's a good way to look at it." Eren said. He still sounded like he felt bad.

"Really, don't worry about it." I mumbled. "Why don't you go see if Sasha is almost done and I'll get the next horse ready?"

Eren nodded and went to find Sasha, leaving me to curse my size to a horse who was utterly confused.


	2. Chapter 2

All the stalls were clean. All the horses were clean. The tack, on the other hand, was not so clean. Jean had decided that he would take a _nap_ in the middle of scrubbing a saddle. I had gone to make sure he was almost done and found him sprawled across the floor with a sponge in his hand. Resisting the urge to kick the living shit out of him, I went to get a bucket of water and some apples.

"Sayomi…? What are you doing with that?" Eren asked as he saw me stomp angrily past him with the water and apples. I ignored him and continued to walk purposefully to the tack room. "Sayomi!?"

I stopped in front of the door causing Eren to bump into me then turned and hushed him. He looked confused but stopped making any noise. Slowly and silently, I nudged the door open to reveal a still sleeping Jean. I grinned wickedly and splashed the water all over him before pelting him with fruit. He yelped and thrashed around, trying to fend off the hard objects attacking him, then jumped to his feet.

"What the fuck!?" He roared, flinging water out of his eyes with his fingers. He opened his eyes and saw Eren standing in the doorway next to me. Without really thinking it through, he hurled one of the apples in his direction. I caught the fruit with one hand only about a centimeter from Eren's face. He made a strange noise of fear at how close the evil fruit had come to colliding with his face. "Don't protect that asshole! Look what he did to me!"

"Actually, that was me." I snapped angrily, chucking the apple back at him, full force. It exploded against his head, causing him to stumble and fall onto his behind. "That's what you get for sleeping on the job. Now Levi's gonna kill _all _of us."

"I didn't expect _much_ from you, Jean, but this is a new low." Eren grumbled next to me as he crossed his arms. Jean just opened and closed his mouth as he searched desperately for a response.

"I just- I just- I thought that I could-"

"Get away with sleeping because you're just _that _amazing?" I finished sarcastically. I sighed with disappointment as I looked at all the work he had skipped out on. "Well, there's no way we'll be able to finish all this in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes!?" Jean yelped, jumping back to his feet. "But Levi's gonna-"

"Kill us. I know." I muttered. I turned to go retrieve more cleaning supplies and ran right into Levi who did not look pleased. Unlike most people, I had to look up to see Levi's face. Other people, like Eren, had to look down which was just awkward. "S-sir!?"

"Who was in charge of this?" He growled, glaring at me.

"Jean was, Captain." I answered carefully. "He fell asleep halfway through."

"Tch, Kirschtein." Levi scoffed, looking over at the bickering boys behind me. He sighed and looked back to me. "Get Jaeger and Braus and get out. I'll deal with Kirschtein."

"Yes, Sir." I nodded. I turned, scurried over to Eren, grabbed his arm and yanked him out the door against his protests. I dragged him past the Corporal and he immediately shut up, following with no reluctance. When I closed the door, I immediately heard from the other side of the door, a terrified yelp and then something crashing to the ground. Jean was as good as dead.

"He… He let us go?" Eren gawked when we had gotten farther down the hallway. I nodded after a second of thinking. "But _why?!_"

"Maybe he understood that we didn't do anything wrong?" I shrugged as I walked towards where Sasha was energetically petting a horse.

"That's not very much like Levi…" Eren mumbled, pondering the reason why Levi didn't kill us. Sasha looked up from her hand and smiled widely at us. "Come on Sasha, Levi's dismissed us."

"Really? Where's Jean?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. Eren and I chuckled at the thought of what was happening to Jean right then.

"Probably getting beaten up by Levi or getting forced to do more thorough work on the saddles he's already done and the ones he didn't get to." I snickered as I looked over my shoulder to where we had come from. I heard another crash and a scream causing me to grimace. "That doesn't sound good."

* * *

It was humid and hot inside the dining hall from all the people crammed inside of it. That was normal by now though. After being in the Survey Corps for a few months, it was just how things worked. I sat at one of the few empty tables with a small plate of bread and chowder and a book. Sasha had gone to join her other friends; Connie, Christa and Ymir, and Eren had gone with Mikasa and Armin. Jean was probably still in the stables, but he usually sat with Marco, Reiner and Bertholt.

Suddenly, someone plopped down next from me with another plate of food. Surprised, I looked up from my book to see Eren closely followed by Armin and Mikasa. The other two planted themselves on the other side of the table.

"Um… Hello?" I muttered, not really sure why I had sudden company. No one had ever bothered to sit with me before other than Sasha a few times when Connie wasn't there. Eren smiled widely at me while Mikasa and Armin smiled warmly from across the table. "Why are you here? Don't you usually sit over there?"

"Yeah, but we figured we'd sit with you today because you were all alone." Eren shrugged, picking at his food.

"I'm always alone." I mumbled, closing my book and setting it beside me. "I don't want anyone to sit with me just because they feel _bad_ for me. So if that's the reason, I'd rather have you leave."

"I just thought that we were kinda friends now after all that stable work…" Eren said quietly.

"And anyone who's Eren's friend is our friend!" Armin grinned. Mikasa nodded beside him, but didn't speak. I looked back at Eren.

"We're… Friends?" I asked. I really didn't understand friendship very well. I was always a very closed person. Sasha was my friend because she kind of had to be, but other than her I had no friends since I was about eight.

"I, um, I think so. Unless you don't want to be friends?" Eren answered uncertainly.

"No, no, I do. I've just never had a friend other than Sasha who I _had_ to become friends with." I explained, bending the truth a bit and shaking my hands in a dismissive gesture. "I didn't really know we were friends."

"That's what friends are. We're nice to each other, look out for each other, and like each other's company." Mikasa stated stoically. I blinked up at her. It was the first time I had ever heard her speak. "Nobody wants to be left alone."

I looked back down at my book then up to my… friends. I smiled softly. I liked the sound of having friends other than my roommate.

"Thank you." I smiled. Eren and Armin grinned widely at me, while Mikasa smiled gently. "I'd like some friends."

"Good!" Armin beamed. He opened his mouth to speak again, but there was a crash on the other side of the room.

Every head in the dining hall turned to the source to see Jean stumble in, filthy and sweaty, with Levi behind him, foot still raised. Eren snickered beside me as Jean fell flat on his face. The hall erupted into laughter, Eren's being the loudest of all at the sight of his rival making a fool of himself. Everyone immediately silenced at Levi's angry glare as he walked past Jean to get his own food. His gaze lingered on me for a few seconds until he turned away to his food. I shifted my gaze back to where Jean was and saw Marco was helping him to his feet while Reiner laughed behind him.

"I wonder what he had to do?" I wondered aloud.

"Hopefully something awful!" Eren sneered next to me.

Before he could make another rude remark about Jean, Squad Leader Hanji scampered over. Eren's eyes widened in terror as he attempted to hide behind Mikasa. Hanji just giggled and pulled him away by the elbow against his wishes.

"Oh Eren~" Hanji sang, her glasses flashing in the light. "I'd like to do some experiments!"

"Oh no." Eren groaned, letting his head fall back. Eren was a Titan-shifter, so Hanji, a slightly mad scientist, always did experiments on him.

"Also, I need two assistants!" Hanji grinned. She scanned our table and he eyes landed on me. "You! You're smart, correct?!"

"I- I think so?" I mumbled, not entirely sure of this woman. Her bright brown hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and she accidentally whipped Eren in the face as she turned to Armin.

"And you?! You're smart too!?" She demanded. Armin gulped and nodded. "Great! You two will be my assistants!" Without waiting for us to answer, she grabbed each of our arms and dragged us away with Eren reluctantly following. After we exited the dining hall with quite a few confused looks, Hanji started to explain.

"We are going to see how long Eren can remain as a Titan! Armin, you'll time it and take notes. I'll oversee the entire thing. Sayomi, you will get Eren out if we have any problems and take notes if you can." Hanji explained with a bounce in her step. "Eren, you'll be a Titan!"

"I know that, Squad Leader." Eren grumbled. Hanji didn't seem to notice.

"Wait, why did you pick me? Mikasa would be better for this job!" I exclaimed in confusion.

"Yes, but I need someone who can record what it's like to get Eren out in specific detail." Hanji said. "Mikasa could do okay at that, but I know you are great at it from the latest report you gave!"

"Report?" Eren asked, furrowing his brows.

"Yes, Captain Levi had me write a report on our stable duties. It wasn't anything really." I answered with a wave of my hand. I turned back to Hanji. "But how do you know I'll even be _able_ to get Eren out?"

"Because you were, what was it, number two? Yes, yes, you came in second in the rankings." Hanji said. She swung a door open and ushered us all outside. There were four horses set out for us. "Go on, get on those horses. You had gotten below Mikasa by half a point, so there really isn't much of a difference physically between you two."

"Half a point!? But Mikasa is- She's perfect at everything!" I exclaimed. Hanji nodded.

"And so are you, if you haven't noticed." Hanji stated. I blinked in confusion and climbed up onto the horse. Eren, knowing exactly where we were going, rode ahead. Since I was extremely competitive, I raced after him and bolted past him, having a general sense of where Hanji conducted her experiments.

"Hey! Is this a race!?" Eren called from a few feet behind me.

"If you want to lose, then sure!" I yelled over my shoulder. I glanced back at Eren and saw him smiling with a look of determination on his face. I let out a breath and kicked the horse's flanks. It jolted forward and I leaned down onto it's neck for more speed and less resistance. "Like hell I'm gonna lose to Titan Boy!"

"I heard that!" Eren said from beside me. I looked over in shock. I had grown up riding horses! I should be able to beat Eren! "You know, your doubt offends me."

He grinned at me and spurred his horse forward and rocketed past me. Growling, I urged the horse to go faster. I copied Eren's actions and soon, due to me being so light, I was ahead of him again. I heard him shout in frustration but this time I didn't look back to see where he was. I felt like I was flying with the wind whistling past my ears and whipping my hair around me. I always felt the best on a horse or in the air on 3DMG.

With my growing confidence, the one thing I wasn't prepared for was for the horse to trip. With a whinny of surprise, the horse's hoof collided with a root and flung forward. It's face slammed against the dirt but it continued to run for a few steps until it flipped over. I was launched over the horse's head, flailing wildly, and skidded across the ground then crashed into a tree, back first. The horse snorted and got to it's feet unscathed other than a dirty face and a bruise or two. Due to it's training, it remained where it was. I slid down the trunk of the tree and sat at the base with some of my hair clinging to the rough bark. There was a shrill ringing in my ears from my head colliding with the tree and I could feel a large bruise already forming on my back. Now, I had fallen off plenty of horses in many different ways, but this was by far the worst. Mostly because now I would lose the stupid race. I groaned at my own stupidity. I should've known better than to go this fast through wooded areas.

I heard more hoofbeats thundering towards me. Maybe it was my horse running off after someone whistling back at HQ. No, that was in the opposite direction. It must've been Eren. I wondered briefly if he would even stop. Suddenly, the hoofbeats stopped with a voice calling out "Woah!" Then footsteps were hurrying towards me. I didn't bother opening my eyes, I knew it was Eren. I recognized the voice and he was the closest when I fell. I felt a warm hand press against my forehead.

"Shit, you're bleeding Sayomi." Eren muttered as he took his hand away. He made a soft clicking sound over his shoulder and I heard soft thuds coming closer meaning the horse was coming. Eren stood with a grunt and I heard him rustling around in a saddlepack. A moment later he was back and winding some gauze around my head. "It's one thing to go fast, but you shouldn't go that fast in the woods."

"I know that Eren. I grew up with horses." I mumbled, cracking my eyes open. Eren's tongue was sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated on bandaging my head. When he was finished, he sat back on his heels with a smile on his face.

"Does this mean I win?" He asked as he stood back up. He took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"No, it means on the way back we'll go again." I responded as I went back over to my horse who was idly grazing. I shoved my foot in the stirrup and swung up into the saddle. I looked over and saw Eren had jumped up on the saddle on his stomach and was currently trying to right himself while the horse walked away.

"No, no, no! Stay!" Eren commanded as he wriggled around. I touched my heel to my horse's side and went to get Eren's reins to halt the horse. When Eren finally got into the saddle the right way, he smiled sheepishly at me. "Heh, thanks."

"Mhm." I hummed. The sound of running horses caught my attention. I turned to see Armin and Hanji cantering towards us. Hanji waved enthusiastically with a wide grin. Her grin slipped from her face when she caught sight of the bandage around my head.

"What happened?" She asked, nodding to my head as she walked the final few steps towards us.

"Horse tripped." I responded simply. Hanji seemed to figure the rest out herself and nodded. "So, how much longer until we get there?"

"We're already here!" Hanji beamed, opening her arms and waving them about. "There's a clearing right past this clump of trees! Follow me!"

She trotted into the trees and in moments she was lost from sight. I looked at Eren and Armin and shrugged, following the scientist. After a few more minutes of trotting through the trees, we arrived at a clearing. Hanji had already tied her horse to a post and let her horse drink some water from a trough that had been set there. Eren, Armin and I followed her lead and tied the horses then went over to where she was.

"Alright, Eren go to the center of the clearing. Armin, stay by the horses and take this clipboard. Sayomi stand about thirty feet from Eren and be ready to cut him out." Hanji instructed as she pointed to various spots and handed Armin a clipboard.

"Yes, Squad Leader!" We saluted and went to our positions.

"Okay, Eren! On the count of three!" Hanji called. Eren nodded and brought his hand up to his mouth. I had never actually seen Eren's Titan or how he became a Titan. I pulled out my blades from my 3DMG and stood with my legs apart, ready to fly into the air. "Five, four, _three!_"

Eren's teeth sunk into his skin and, in a moment, there was a flash of yellow lightning and a deafening explosion. A fifteen meter humanoid creature that was a Titan formed in front of my eyes. When the smoke cleared, I saw a heavily muscled, emerald eyed Titan. It had the same color hair as Eren, but it came down to his shoulders. His jaw was segmented making it impossible for him to form coherent words. A ferocious roar erupted from his throat causing Hanji to laugh like a little school girl with a crush. Eren's Titan looked around and seemed to slouch over in boredom.

"Hanji!" I called. She looked over at me with her hand cupping her ear. "Can I go see if he can understand me!?" Hanji nodded rapidly and yelled something to Armin. She gave me the thumbs up and rubbed her hands together eagerly.

I jumped off the ground and fired a hook into Eren's shoulder. I landed easily and grappled to him so I wouldn't fall off of the giant.

"Eren, can you understand me?" I asked loudly. He nodded. I looked down at Hanji and gave her a thumbs up. I could hear her squealing from fifteen meters above the ground. She made a motion for me to tell Eren to do what she did and I nodded. She dropped onto her knees and saluted. "Eren, drop onto your knees, _slowly _so you don't kill me, and salute."

The Titan nodded once and slowly eased himself to his knees. After making sure I was still with him, he slammed his right hand over his heart and hooked his left around his back in a salute. Hanji literally jumped for joy at the sight. I turned away from Hanji with another idea in mind. I was almost positive she wouldn't mind.

"Do you know how to play 'Simon Says'?" I asked cheerfully. Eren nodded and I heard a low grumble from him. "Well, we're gonna play!" He nodded eagerly and his pointed ears twitched slightly.

"Okay… Simon Says; Stand on one foot!" Eren complied easily, holding his left foot in his hand and balancing on his right.

"Simon Says; poke your nose." Once again, Eren did so while I heard something resembling a laugh.

"Simon Says; stick your tongue out." Eren did so.

"Roar!" I commanded. And so Eren did. He let out a loud roar, but quickly stopped and brought his massive hand to his face when he realized he had just lost.

* * *

After about two hours of a mostly one sided conversation with Eren other than him agreeing or disagreeing to some things, he started to weaken. His shoulders slouched first and soon he was on his knees.

"Sayomi, get him out!" Hanji ordered from the ground. I nodded and maneuvered myself to Eren's neck. I cut into where I thought none of his body would be affected, but after I drove the blade in the Titan roared and thrashed around, almost knocking me off.

"Sorry, Eren!" I called. I cut straight down and did the same for the other side, although farther out so I would avoid him. The skin in between the two cuts dissolved to reveal Eren bound into the Titan by red stringy flesh. I cut a few of the stringy parts, but decided it would take too long and just reached my hands in to pull him out. The flesh burned my hands, but I ignored it and continued to pull Eren's body out. Slowly but surely, Eren was released from the Titan's body. Although he was heavy, I carried him bridal style to the ground where I sat him down under a tree by the horses.

"You're strong for someone so small!" Armin exclaimed when he saw me carrying Eren easily. I scoffed and went to get some water to wet a rag. I brought back the cold, wet rag and pressed it against Eren's forehead that seemed to be on fire. Eren groaned in relief but he was still unconscious. I beckoned Armin towards me to take the rag and stood up. Suddenly, Hanji spun me around with an enormous grin on her face and he clipboard at the ready.

"Tell me everything!" She practically drooled, a blush of happiness on her face. So, I described everything that happened in perfect detail, much to Hanji's delight.


	3. Chapter 3

Headaches were the worst. You had to go to sleep _before_ it hit in order to actually fall asleep. If you didn't all that would happen was tossing and turning. That is what was happening now. The thunderstorm wasn't exactly helping either. All the random flashes of light, the crashes of thunder, and also Sasha's snoring only worsened the throbbing. Although we had a curfew and if a superior officer caught any of us out of our rooms after curfew we would be punished, I decided to take a walk around the HQ. During the capture the flag games in Cadets I was always the stealthiest. I could make next to no noise if I tried, so I wasn't very worried that I would be caught.

As I walked past Levi's office I heard paper rustling inside. Instinctually, I flattened myself against the wall to avoid being seen. The door was cracked open ever so slightly and curiosity got the best of me. I carefully peered inside expecting to see Levi catching up on paperwork. What I saw was something I couldn't ever even imagine.

Humanity's Strongest, Levi, was at his desk with his head buried in his hands with two worn out Scout's Badges in front of him. With every crack of thunder or flash of lightning he would flinch and let out a painful choking sound. He tangled his fingers into his hair as his shoulders shook. Was Corporal Levi afraid of thunderstorms? It must've been something more, he had two badges out for a reason.

Although my mind was screaming to get the hell out of there, my heart almost forced me to go inside. I gulped nervously and pushed the door open further.

"Corporal?" I called softly. Levi jumped to his feet, the chair crashing into a wall behind him. "Are you okay?"

"What the hell are you doing!?" He hissed stalking towards me. He glared down at me, and I saw tears stained his face. Without really thinking it through, I wrapped my arms around him in a hug. Every muscle in his body tensed up through the entire hug. Finally, I took a step back and looked up at his face. He stared with wide eyes over my head as more tears spilled down his face. "She always used to do that."

"Sir?" I asked gently. He seemed to have forgotten all reality. He blinked and looked down at me.

"Isabel. She always hugged me even when I told her not to." He mumbled.

"May I ask who Isabel is?" He didn't seem like he knew who he was talking to. Maybe if he spoke of this 'Isabel' girl he would feel better.

"She was one of my friends along with Farlan. They joined the Survey Corps with me because Erwin made us or else we would be arrested… They both died during a thunderstorm. And it was _all_ my fault. I made the wrong choice and it resulted in their deaths." He choked. Suddenly, his eyes shot back open and he looked down at me, suddenly angry and scared all at once. "Why did I tell you that!? If you tell anyone that, I'll kill you, brat!" Levi snapped as he pinned me against a wall. I blinked at him, not even flinching.

"Levi, I doubt it was your fault. Isabel and Farlan wouldn't want you to be like this because of their deaths." I said, not using his title and instead using his name. Right now, the fact that he was my captain didn't matter.

"Tch, you wouldn't get it." Levi scoffed, fire in his eyes. "You don't know what happened."

"I don't know what happened to _you_ but I assume it's pretty similar to what happened to me." I growled, glaring at him. "Felicity and Max died because of my recklessness. I thought I could do whatever I wanted and be fine, but they were _killed _because of _me._ I have made it my responsibility to kill all the Titans and do what we had originally planned on doing for their sake. I watched helplessly as they were ripped apart by those monsters. You have no right to claim I don't understand what it's like to lose my closest friends and only family to the Titans."

Levi just stared at me with shock written all over his face. He took a step back and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath.

"Thank you." He said without looking at me. "For… telling me that and for letting me vent to you. Now, get the hell out of here or else I'll punish you, understand?!"

"Yes, Sir!" I smiled. I saluted him and quickly fled from the room. I slipped stealthily back into my room and climbed into bed. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

* * *

I awoke the next morning to Hanji poking my forehead and smiling like a maniac. I shrieked and fell off the other side of the bed. Sasha mimicked my scream and shot up in her bed.

"H-Hanji!?" I gasped, peering over the bed. She just giggled. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"I'm waking you up!" Hanji beamed as she walked around the bed towards me. "Levi wants to see you!"

"The corporal wants to see _me?!_" I gawked in mild terror. "Did he say what it was for?!"

"Nope! Just said he wanted to see you as soon as possible!" Hanji bounced up and down out of excitement over who knows what. "Oh, and great job on the report, I don't think I said that yesterday."

With that, Hanji bounded out of the room leaving me and Sasha thoroughly confused and slightly terrified. I blinked and stood up while rubbing the shoulder that I landed on. Sighing, I went over to the small desk and mirror and quickly brushed through my hair that fell halfway down my back and swiftly walked out of the room. Sasha just stared after me from her bed.

On my way to Levi's office, I bumped into Eren. Since I was going so quickly, I stumbled back a few steps and, just as I was about to fall, Eren caught my arm and pulled me back up so I was pressed against his chest. He smiled at me and released me.

"What are you doing here, Eren?" I asked. It was the _girls'_ hallway after all.

"I'm going to get Mikasa. Usually she gets me up, so I don't know what going on." Eren explained with a shrug. "What about you?"

"Oh, I got called to Levi's office." I explained sheepishly, holding my arm and looking at the ground. "I don't know why."

"Yeesh, good luck." Eren grimaced pitifully. "Tell me what it's about at breakfast, alright?"

"Sure, see ya Eren." I muttered as I walked past him. I took my time walking the rest of the way to Levi's office using it to ponder what he wanted. Was it about what happened the night before? I shivered. I hoped it wasn't about that. Finally after as much deliberation as humanly possible, I was in front of Levi's office. I took a deep breath and knocked.

"Come in." Came the gruff reply. I mentally braced myself for whatever verbal abuse I could receive and entered the office. Levi was sitting at his desk with neat stacks of paper on either side of him and a pen twirling in his fingers. He glanced up at me for a moment. "Tch, took you long enough."

"Sorry, Sir, I got pulled into something along the way." I lied. '_Pulled into something', yeah right. _"What was it that you wanted?"

Levi stood from his desk and came over to me. He looked at me for a full minute before he finally spoke.

"You have been promoted to the Special Operations Squad." Levi stated stoically. My eyes widened in surprise. "It has become clear after the last expedition that you are much more talented _and less annoying_ than the rest of your peers."

"But, Sir, there are others much more qualified than myself, like Mikasa Acker-"

"She annoys the living hell out of me. She's way too protective of Jaeger and all she does is glares at me." Levi brushed me off. "You are not _as_ annoying and you are a talented soldier. I welcome you to the Special Ops Squad."

"Th-thank you, Captain!" I saluted hastily with a grin on my face. "I won't let you down!"

"Let's hope not." Levi scoffed. "You're dismissed. Tell Springer to get in here, he has to explain why the kitchen was destroyed…"

I scampered gleefully out of the office and towards the dining hall with a wide grin on my face. _Money for me! 'First one to get promoted other than Eren Award' goes to the one and only Sayomi Sakamoto!_

"Connie!" I called as I caught sight of the bald boy ahead of me. He turned and gave me a confused look. "You owe me ten bucks!"

"What, why?" He asked. "Why the hell are you smiling? You never smile."

"Remember this;" I cleared my throat and impersonated Connie's voice. "'First one to get promoted other than Eren gets ten dollars from everyone in this room'?"

"You got promoted!?" He gawked. I nodded enthusiastically and held out my hand for his money. He grumbled as he dug around in his pocket. After a few minutes of searching he found ten dollars and slapped it into my hand. "Dammit."

"Oh and Levi wants to see you by the way." I said as I walked past him.

"What!?" He yelped. "Crap!"

I rolled my eyes, a grin still on my face, and entered the dining hall. At first, no one seemed to care that I had walked in, but soon people began to turn their heads (all from the 104th Trainees Squad) as they saw me with a smile plastered across my face. Sasha was the first to approach me.

"What happened to you? You're all… Smiley." She muttered, tilting her head as if to see me at a different angle.

"You and everyone else who bet owes me ten dollars." I beamed. "Go get everyone from the 104th and I'll explain."

Sasha nodded uncertainly and went to round everyone up. Soon enough, everyone from my year was crowded around one table (with the exception of Connie.). Mostly everyone looked thoroughly confused, other than Armin who seemed to catch on quickly.

"Alright, who remembers the bet we made when we first joined the Scouts?" I asked. After a moment everyone's heads started to nod up and down and they mumbled in agreement. "Well, everyone owes me ten dollars."

"What!? No way!"

"You got promoted!?"

"What are you now?!"

"I thought I'd get it for sure…"

Slowly, a pile of money was formed in the middle of the table and I swiftly swiped it and shoved it in my pocket with a wide grin.

"You are now looking at Sayomi Sakamoto of the Special Operations Squad!" I announced. The response was even louder this time.

"Levi promoted you straight into his own squad!?" Marco gasped. I nodded, my smile never wavering. "That's unheard of! How many Titan kills did you get in last expedition!?"

"I got thirteen assists and six solos." I answered. The people around me erupted into gasps and surprised laughter. Slowly my smile shrunk and soon I had my neutral expression back. I slipped away from all the commotion and went to get a plate of food. I didn't bother sitting back down at that insane table, I just tapped Eren, Armin and Mikasa on the back and gestured to an empty table that we sat at before.

When we all settled down with our food, we started to talk. Eren had a huge smile on his face.

"Now you'll be working with me!" He beamed, tapping his chest with his thumb. "And we'll have private training together!"

"Oh yeah!" I grinned. I had forgotten about the private training. "I've heard that Auruo is a bastard."

"Yeah, sometimes. He tries to act like Levi all the time." Eren chuckled. "You should see Petra when he does it. She gets really angry."

"Petra? Angry?" I asked, the two words made no sense in one sentence. Petra was one of the sweetest people I knew. "Is that even possible?"

"It's _very _possible and _very _scary." Eren replied seriously. "I'd rather take on an aberrant than take on Petra when she's angry!"

"Luckily, instead of Petra, you get to deal with _me._" A gruff voice growled from behind us. Eren and I jumped and spun around to see Levi scowling at us. "Since there are now _two _of you brats, I'll take over your training for a few days. So get your asses out to the field immediately!"

"Yes, Sir!" Eren and I chorused.

Eren scooped up his empty dishes and bolted to the kitchen. Unfortunately, Eren missed his knife. I attempted to just take it for him, but Levi's fingers were wrapped around it in seconds. He muttered something under his breath about Eren being a 'brat who is not worth his time' as he brought the knife back, getting ready to launch it across the room to where Eren was running. In one swift motion, the knife was released from his hand. It flew through the air and thudded into the wood of the doorframe, right in front of Eren. Eren yelped and jumped backwards before looking over, like everyone else in the dining hall, to see who had thrown the weapon. Levi stood scowling and glaring at the trembling mass that was Eren.

"Make sure you clean up your mess next time, Jaeger." Levi snarled. Before Eren could respond, Levi spun on his heel and left the room.

"I'm gonna kill that midget." Mikasa growled from across the table. She had a dark look on her face and was glaring daggers at the door Levi had gone through. She seemed to sense my annoyed look and quickly added, "No offense to your height or anything."

I sighed and gathered my dishes like Eren had, although I got everything, and went towards Eren who was still sitting on the ground in terror. I grabbed the back of his shirt with my free hand and dragged him out of the room towards the kitchen after taking the knife out of the wall.

Connie (who had come back from getting yelled at by Levi), Jean, Armin, Mikasa, Sasha, Marco, Ymir, Christa, Reiner, and Bertolt all watched as the petite girl quite literally dragged the Titan shifter out of the room. Mikasa seemed to be having a mental argument with herself, making weird faces and darting her eyes around the room. Armin was smiling warmly and shaking his head. Everyone else was confused.

* * *

"Pick up the pace Jaeger! Sakamoto, don't cut it short!" Levi ordered from the ground. We were drilling in the trees for the next expedition. Eren was simply maneuvering through the trees whereas I was practicing Levi's signature move; spinning. It was much harder than it looked. You had to time it perfectly, hold it until you almost collided with something, and hold two razor sharp blades. Not easy. For the thousandth time that day, my body came out of the spin. I skidded on the ground backwards, somehow landing on my feet while panting heavily as sweat trickled down my forehead.

Levi stalked over to me, glaring daggers and hauled me up by my forearm. I avoided his gaze as he stared into my eyes angrily. The metallic screech of Eren's gear still resounded throughout the forest as Levi studied my every movement.

"You're too tense." He finally stated. I looked up at him. "You have to relax in order for the spin to work. I'll show you this _one more time_, but after this, you're on laundry duty, understand?!" I nodded while swallowing nervously. "Good. Now watch."

Levi shot the hooks into a tree and landed lightly on a branch. He took a step forward then hurled himself off of the branch, plummeting to the ground. Long before he met the ground, he grappled to the opposite tree, bringing him into a large arc. At the very peak of the arc, he shifted his weight to one side and spun at a dizzying speed. His blades were a blur of silver as he held them out. He landed like a cat on the ground, using gas to soften the fall and strode back over to me.

"Go." He ordered, pointing to the tree had had originally been on with his blade. I nodded and shot both hooks into the tree, landing on the same branch Levi had previously been on.

With a deep breath, I stepped off the branch and began to fall. The wind drowned out any other sound as I shot my hooks into the opposite tree. I whirled upwards. At the very top of the arc I was thrown in, I leaned to one side and began to spin. I gritted my teeth and threw my blades out to either side. My hooks released from the tree I was secured to and I collided with another tree. But, I didn't stop. I kicked off of the tree and began spinning again. About ten feet from the ground, I did a flip and landed on the ground without making a sound. My hand pressed against the ground between my foot and knee and my sweat drenched hair flopped over my face.

"Jaeger! Get down here!" Levi barked. The metallic hissing came closer then stopped. I dropped my other knee and hand to the ground whilst panting heavily. "Did you see what she did?"

"Yes, Sir. It was amazing." Eren responded. I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Good, because that's what you're doing tomorrow." Levi stated , smirking at Eren's terrified reaction. His smirk turned quickly to a scowl. "Now get out of here, Jaeger!"

Eren clumsily saluted and ran off back to HQ. By now I was sitting on my heels, my breath still heavy but not nearly as bad as before. Levi turned to me and looked at me for a moment before reaching out his hand to help me up. I took it with a sheepish smile and stood up with a grunt. When I was standing, he put a hand on my shoulder and nodded.

"Good work today, Sayomi. You're excused from tomorrow's training. That much could last you a week." Levi said stoically. My eyes widened. That was the first time he had said my first name _and_ he was excusing me from training. "I expect you to be ready after tomorrow. You and Eren are assigned to kitchen duty today. Do not disappoint me like Springer."

"Thank you, Sir!" I saluted. He nodded and waved me away. "Are you coming back to headquarters, corporal?"

"I have a few things to do out here." He answered. "Now go! No questioning your superiors!"

"R-right!" I stuttered. I turned and ran back to HQ, hoping to catch up to Eren.

* * *

Levi watched his new member run away before turning towards the trees. _Why did I ever agree to this?_ He asked himself as he walked into the forest. _Oh right. I was threatened with blackmail… Who cares if I locked some kid outside!? He deserved it after making that much of a mess! And _I _didn't make it rain!_

He was snapped from his thoughts by a strange sound coming from a bush. He narrowed his eyes at the suspicious plant and approached it cautiously.

"Oi, shitty glasses, is that you?" He growled as he poked at the bush.

"Aw, you're no fun Levi." Hanji pouted as she stood up. Levi grimaced at how filthy she was. She was covered in leaves, twigs and dirt. Hanji beamed at him and stepped around the bush so that she was no longer concealed. She clasped her hands together expectantly.

"What?" The corporal snapped, his patience nonexistent for the overly excited scientist. She let her hands drop and stuck out her bottom lip. She quickly regained her chipper attitude and leaned closer to her superior officer.

"Did you do it or not?" She breathed ecstatically, drool dripping down her chin.

"Yes, you vile creature, I did. You're lucky I'm not putting you on laundry duty for threatening your superior." The short man spat, flicking Hanji on the forehead when she inched too close. "Consider it a blessing."

"Oh please. You would never punish your dear friend, Hanji!" She giggled, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Levi raised an eyebrow at her.

"No experiments for a week, is that clear shitty four-eyes?" Levi snarled, clearly unamused at how casual Hanji was being. She dropped to her knees and let out an earsplitting cry. All of a sudden, her cry cut off as she was unceremoniously kicked in the head. She grumbled and pulled herself to her feet.

"As long as Eren and Sayomi are on duty together, it will be enough of an experiment to last." Hanji muttered under her breath as she walked back to HQ with Levi following a few feet behind, barely concealing a smirk.


	4. Chapter 4

The Special Ops Squad, being the last to end training and get back into the building, sat around a table eating a late dinner, chatting idly. Everyone mostly spoke of the new member.

"A newbie shot right up into the SOS!? Tch." Auruo attempted to imitate Levi's 'tch' sound but only accomplished biting his tongue rather hard. "Dammit!"

"That's what you get for acting like someone you aren't!" Petra snapped angrily. She sighed and returned her honey gaze to Gunther and Erd. "I think she deserved it. With enough training and experience, her skills could rival the captain's. From what I've seen anyways."

"She lost to Mikasa Ackerman by half a point because of her height. She excels at everything she does. She can even cook well from what she cooked tonight!" Erd exclaimed, shoving another spoonful of soup into his mouth with a satisfied groan. "But, she doesn't know her own strength yet. She thought she lost to Ackerman by a hundred points, if not more. She n-"

"Eren!?" A voice yelped from the kitchen after a loud crash. Petra and Auruo immediately raced over to the kitchen door to make sure no one got hurt (Auruo was looking for someone to punish.) What they saw was not what they had expected.

"S-sorry! Sorry! I tripped!" Eren stuttered. That was the moment when Petra and Auruo burst in.

"What the hell are you two- EH!?" Auruo roared. His voice faltered at the end when he saw the compromising position we were in.

Eren had tripped over a pot he dropped causing him to crash into me and knock me to the floor. He ended up with his hands on either side of my head with me sprawled underneath him. He immediately scurried away from me and jumped to his feet, his cheeks flushed bright pink. I pulled myself to my feet after him and stood a few feet away from him.

"I tripped!"

"He tripped!" We looked at each other and then back at our superior officers.

The two officers remained silent, their jaws slack in disbelief. What exactly had they just walked in on? They were deaf to the two teens voices and more concerned with what they had just seen. Finally, Petra cleared her throat and spoke, her voice shaking. "S-Sayomi, you're dismissed. Eren, cl-clean this up immediately and then join us for dinner."

Eren and I nodded, our faces still red. Eren stumbled over to the counter to continue cleaning dishes and I shuffled towards Petra. She stepped out of the way to allow me through the door and swiftly followed me back to the dining hall. I sat at the end of the table, as far away from Auruo and Petra as possible. I figured I would never live that down.

There was a loud bang coming from the door from the hallways and a dull 'oof' followed by giggling. Petra got up from the table again and went to open the door. Hanji practically fell into the room before looking around excitedly. When her eyes fell on me, her face dropped. Her head snapped to the right to look at Petra who jumped in surprise. Her glasses flashed dangerously as she yanked Petra from the room by her arm.

After a moment of silence, I could hear muffled yelling from a ways away. Everyone stared at the door that Petra was dragged from with interest and slight concern. You could never know with Hanji. It was quiet for few seconds until manic laughter echoed throughout the building. Hanji and Petra soon returned. Hanji was howling with laughter.

I shifted uncomfortably. I had a bad feeling that this was about me and possibly what happened a few minutes before. I blushed furiously at the thought and attempted to hide it by looking back to my food and eating with newfound vigor. To my horror, Hanji planted herself next to me, still laughing quietly, and slung her arm across my shoulders. I tensed and lowered my forkful of food back onto the plate.

"Squad Leader?" I prompted through gritted teeth. I could see the rest of my squad trying not to laugh at my uneasiness.

"So, Sayomi, what exactly happened in the kitchen a few minutes ago?" She grinned maliciously.

"N-nothing!" I squeaked, jumping slightly. Hanji retracted her hand and smirked knowingly at me. "E-Eren just tripped! That's all!"

"Why are your cheeks so red? I never said you did something wrong." Hanji grinned.

"I- It- You-" I gave up and slammed my head on the table with a groan. _I swear, this woman is just trying to make my friendship with Eren awkward. _Hanji and the rest of the squad burst into laughter (_traitors._) some even pounding their fists on the table in a fit of hilarity. Eren chose that moment to walk in.

I heard the door close and looked up to see Eren stretching as he walked over to the table. When he realized that everyone except me was laughing hysterically, his eyes widened and his face reddened.

"Er-Eren! Eren! Come sit down!" Hanji giggled gesturing to the spot on the other side of me. _Damn this woman_. Slowly, everyone calmed down and looked to Hanji, eager for her next round of questions. "So, Eren, when did your little crush develop?"

"What crush?" He asked weakly, causing another round of chuckles. His eyes darted around the table while his blush deepened. "I don't have a crush!"

"Oh Eren. Your denial only proves it!" Hanji snickered.

"That's it!" I snapped. Pissed off as I was, that stupid blush still refused to leave my face. I didn't like Eren like that for Sina's sake! I stood up quickly, causing my chair to crash into the wall behind me. I grabbed Eren by the arm and dragged him out of the dining hall where there were still amused giggles. "Fuck those goddamn sons of bitches! Shitty little fucks have nothing better to do!"

"Sayomi, calm-" Eren started when I released him and started angrily walking towards the new recruits' hallways.

"Fuck! What the hell is wrong with them!? Is that really how they waste their damn time?!"

"Sayomi-"

"For Sina's sake, w-"

"Sayomi!" Eren barked, spinning me around to face him and gripping my shoulders. I blinked and looked into his turquoise eyes. They were filled with pain and suffering but also great determination. More than I'd ever seen. "Knock it off! They were just joking around!"

"I know." I muttered, letting my eyes fall. "It's just that the last time I got close to someone, they were killed. Nevermind. Let's just get back. _I'm_ tired and _you_ have training tomorrow with Levi."

"Ugh, I forgot about that." Eren groaned as we continued walking. "You were really good at that. Even if Levi didn't give you credit for it."

"He did, actually." I responded. Eren whipped his head in my direction, his jaw hanging open and his eyes wide. I smirked at his ridiculous reaction. "He said I did a good job and used my first name instead of my last."

"That's unheard of! He doesn't even call Hanji by her first name!" He gawked. After a moment of thinking he brought his hand to his chin. "Although, he doesn't call her by her last name, either. Just says, 'Oi! Shitty glasses! What the fuck are you doing?!'"

I laughed at his terrible impression of Levi. He shot me a smirk. By then, we had reached my room.

"See ya tomorrow, Sayomi!" Eren yawned, waving behind him absentmindedly as he turned and left for the basement.

"Yeah, see ya." I muttered in response. I knew he didn't hear me, he had already turned the corner. I sighed loudly and pushed open the door to my room. I groaned at the sight before me. "Get. Out. Of. Here. _Now_."

Connie and Sasha looked up from their card game with obviously fake shock. I looked down at their cards with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you playing?" I asked suspiciously. I had a pretty good idea of what they were doing.

"Go Fish!"

"Old Maid!"

They looked at each other.

"Old Maid!"

"Go Fish!"

"Right." I spat sarcastically. I stepped forward and swiped the cards from their hands while giving them a glare that was darker than the corporal's. "So. You were spying on Eren and me. _What_, exactly, did you expect to see?"

"W-well," Sasha sputtered in terror. She had seen how violent I could be first hand. Usually in the mornings if she pissed me off, she would face my wrath. I was _not _a morning person. "Connie and I were just walking by the d-dining hall and we heard H-Hanji asking Eren ab-b-bout a crush so we just had to listen in. A-and then you came out and w-we had to find out what happened s-so…"

"So you figured it would be okay to eavesdrop on us?" I growled darkly, my gaze unwavering. She shrugged hesitantly. I heard a quiet snicker from beside me. I whipped my head in Connie's direction and narrowed my eyes threateningly. "What's so funny, Springer?"

"N-nothing!" Connie squeaked, waving his hands in front of his face. "It's just that, Sasha is making it seem like you would kill her if she made you angrier. But, you're too nice to do that."

I smiled grimly at him, causing him to gulp in terror. Letting out a dark chuckle, I straightened myself. Sasha gawked in silent horror at Connie's words, looking at her best friend with pity. Without a moment's hesitation, I kicked Connie in the head. He tumbled off of the bed, landing in a heap on the floor. He groaned in pain but did not move from his position below me. I pushed him onto his back with my foot then leaned down and hauled him up to his feet.

"H-hey! You shouldn't be able to hold me up! You're shorter than me!" Connie yelped.

"Connie! Don't ever talk about her height!" Sasha screeched, terrified for her friend's life. "She's worse than the corporal when it comes to tha- AGH!"

Her sentence was cut off when I threw Connie at her. He crashed into Sasha and they both tumbled to the ground yet again. I then stalked over to Connie and dragged him by the back of his shirt to the door. I threw him out of the room and into the wall across the hall. He slumped on the floor while coughing.

"I expect you to _never _underestimate my strength _ever _again. You are to _never _spy on me. Unless you would like to be thrown into corporal Levi's office with horse shit on your head, you will listen to me. _Goodnight._" I hissed. I stepped back and slammed the door as hard as I could, causing the wood to splinter and crack. I turned and smiled sweetly at the now terrified Sasha. "Same goes for you. 'Night."

With that, I walked over to my dresser, grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom to change. I came back out and found that Sasha was hiding under her covers while shaking uncontrollably with the light still burning. I smiled in satisfaction and blew out the candle then climbed into bed with a content sigh.

* * *

The next morning I could tell I was going to have a bad day. I awoke to Petra's usual wake up call with a massive headache. I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned. Sasha was already up and rushing around the room to get ready for her training. Her mistake was trying to get me up.

"Sayomi, you have to get up and get breakfast before it's all gone. You don't want to miss out on breakfast, right?" After receiving no response, she started to shake my shoulder. "Sayomi? S-"

"I will give you three seconds to get the hell away from me or I will stab you in the eye." I hissed, not opening my eyes. I was very well aware she was right, but I did _not _feel good. After Sasha jumped away, I spoke again. "If anyone asks, tell them I'm sick. And tell them not to bother me unless it's the end of the world."

"R-right!" Sasha responded. It was at that moment, I realized she _had _to obey me. I was her superior now that I was in the SOS. "I'll, um, be leaving now. I'll try to get some food for you. If I don't eat it all…"

"Don't worry about it, Sasha. I'm fine. I don't have any training today, anyway." I responded quietly.

"Okay then. Bye, Sayomi." Sasha said cheerfully, her previous fear gone.

"Yeah, see ya." I mumbled. I rolled over and covered my head with my blanket in an attempt to block out the sun that was bothering my throbbing head.

* * *

_Knock knock. Creeeaaak._

I pried one eye open to look at the door with mild curiosity. Mostly, I was just annoyed. Couldn't I just get some sleep when I was feeling like crap? Was that too much to ask?

"Who's there?" I grumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around me.

"Uh, it's Eren. Can I come in?" Was the response. "I brought you some food."

"Yeah, come in." I mumbled. The door creaked again as Eren opened it wider.

"Uh, why is your door cracked?" He asked fearfully.

"Sasha and Connie pissed me off." I growled, not looking at Eren and opting to stay covered by the blanket.

"Oh." He said simply. I sighed and reluctantly pulled the blanket away from my face. The sun's rays made my head pound, but I ignored it and looked over at Eren. He came over and sat on my bed, handing me a plate of bread and chowder. I smiled slightly and started to eat the food hungrily. "So, what's wrong? Sasha said you were sick."

"My head is killing me and I feel horrible." I replied through a mouthful of food. Suddenly, something occurred to me, making me pause with a spoon halfway to my mouth. I placed it back into the chowder and looked up at Eren. "Don't you have training with Levi?"

"What? Oh yeah-"

"Eren!"

"No, no! I told him I was bringing you food because you were sick and he said it was okay as long as I was there in twenty minutes!" He hastily assured me, waving his hands in front of his face. I relaxed a bit, but I wasn't going to let him be late.

"Well then go! Get! You don't have much time!" I yelled, kicking him off the bed. He stumbled forward and shot me a mock angry glare before leaving. "Good luck!"

"Thanks!" Eren beamed as he rushed out the door.

I finished up the remaining food and looked at the plate and bowl. _Damn, I'm gonna have to bring this back aren't I?_ I pondered, irritated that I had to move. I squeezed my eyes shut momentarily then slipped out of my bed. I shivered as the warmth of my bed disappeared. Reluctantly, I changed into my uniform and brushed through the disaster I called hair then finally grabbed the plate and went down to the dining hall. The few people I had come across had attempted to greet me. All they received was a scowl as I continued to walk past them.

Finally, I had arrived in the dining hall. By now the people who had finished training early or hadn't had training yet were there, chatting and possibly finishing up their food. I returned the plate to the kitchen and made my way back to the door, hoping to get away before I had to talk to anyone. No such luck.

"Hey, Sayomi!" Reiner called, waving his hand at me. I grimaced. I had just gotten to the door and was in the process of pushing it open, but of course, Reiner just _had_ to call me over. _Damn._ I turned and unwillingly went to their table. Marco, Jean, Reiner and Bertolt were all still there. Jean looked like he wanted to kill someone. With a glance around the room I saw that Connie, Ymir and Mikasa were also present.

"What?" I asked irritably. I placed my hand on my hip and raised an eyebrow at the smirking blonde.

"So you and Eren, huh?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows. I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming at him.

"What the hell are you talking about, shitsack?" I snarled. I was _really_ not in the mood for anyone's shit. Reiner was taken aback by the venom in my voice, but quickly regained his smug attitude.

"Yeah, Connie told us _all _about it." Reiner announced, pointing a thumb over his shoulder at Connie, who froze in terror, mid-bite.

"Did he?" I growled, staring at Connie darkly. Reiner nodded, clearly unaware of what was going on. "Well, I'll have to have a discussion with Connie about lyingand privacy and _death._"

"Wait, what?" Reiner asked, dropping his smug demeanor. "Death?"

I stalked around the table, holding Connie's gaze the entire time, and made my way over to the little traitorous asshole. He was shaking visibly as I stared down at him, my eyes devoid of any emotion.

"What did you tell him, _Connie?_" I spat his name like it was poison on my tongue. By now the entire hall was watching the conversation. Secretly, the superior officers wanted to see what I could do, although they'd never admit it. I leaned down to be eye level with the sitting boy.

"I-I…" He squeaked. I narrowed my eyes angrily. "I told them me and Sasha's interpretation of what we overheard!"

"Which was?"

"I don't think you want anyone else hearing that…" He muttered. I straightened myself and sighed. Some of the other soldiers in the room gave me a confused expression. Why wasn't I doing anything? Connie knew better, he knew when I was acting like everything was okay, I was actually plotting his demise. He looked at me pleadingly. "Please don't kill me!? I couldn't help telling them! They knew I knew something and they wouldn't drop it! I held out for as long as I c- ACK!"

I cut him off by punching him in the face, knocking him off the bench he had been sitting at. He landed on the ground sprawled on his stomach, groaning in misery. I kicked him as hard as some people could; just hard enough to not break his ribs. He scrambled to his feet and held up his fists defensively. It was obvious the idiot never took hand-to-hand combat seriously just from the way he stood. He stepped forward and punched at my head. I easily dodged it by just shifting my head to the side.

"You know Connie," I stated tiredly. "I feel like absolute shit today. My head is pounding, my stomach is most likely eating itself alive. It's made me pretty weak." I smirked, blocking a kick. "Let's see if you can beat me, baldy."

"I'm not bald!" He screamed. He let out a flurry of uncoordinated punches and kicks and elbows and knees. None of them even came close to hurting me. Eventually, he tired himself out. It was evident in his sluggish movements. With one swift punch to a pressure point on the jaw, Connie's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell unconscious. I prodded him with my foot a few times to make sure he was unconscious then shrugged. I turned to see Reiner and Jean looked absolutely horrified.

"Nothing this dumbass told you was true, he made everything up." I growled, daring them to disagree. They both nodded, their mouths agape and eyes wide. I rubbed my temple, trying to relieve the throbbing as I glanced around to make sure none of the officers were going to punish me for beating up Connie. Since all their mouths were also agape, I figured nobody was going to do anything.

Hanji walked into the dining hall just as I was walking away from the unconscious Connie. She gasped and threw her hand out in my direction.

"S-Sakamoto?!" She squealed. _Shit, I _am _getting punished!_ I turned to look at her only to see she was looking at me rather strangely. She had a blush of pure happiness on her face and her tongue was lolling out of her mouth.

"Uh, yes, Squad Leader?" I asked cautiously. You could never know with Hanji.

"Did you do this?" She asked, pointing to Connie.

"Uh, yes." I responded. "I'm sorry, I sh-"

"No! No! Don't apologize!" She squealed as she rushed over to me. She grabbed my shoulders and bent down to my eye level. "How fast did you do this!?"

"I don't know, I wasn't keeping track of the time…" I muttered, looking away from Hanji's manic smile. Hanji frowned and glared at every one of the officers.

"Do any of you know how long that took?!" She barked. They all looked between each other nervously.

"Two minutes and twenty seven seconds!" Someone called, raising his hand.

"Thank you!" Hanji beamed. She turned back to me. "Do you know what this means!?"

"No, not really."

"That's the fastest anyone had ever beaten another soldier in a fight other than Captain Levi!"

"Wh- huh?!" I asked, shaking my head. Why did this matter?! Did Connie even count as a soldier?

"Yup! You're the second best hand-to-hand fighter!" Hanji beamed.

"Oh, okay." I muttered, glancing down. Hanji released my shoulders and walked away as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. I blinked in confusion, watching her retreating form. "What?"

"So you and Eren didn't-" Reiner started.

"No, Eren and I didn't do anything." I snarled, glaring at him. He gulped and nodded, looking back to his empty plate.

* * *

"Come on, Jaeger! Put some damn effort into it!" Levi snapped from the ground. Eren was flipping through the trees attempting Levi's favorite technique; spinning. Eren hadn't had any luck for the past three hours of nonstop practice. I silently moved into the clearing keeping one eye on Levi as I watched Eren fly through the air, gritting his teeth. "Oi, I thought you were sick?"

"Oh, yes I am, sir. I had just come out for some fresh air hoping it would get rid of my headache." I explained swiftly.

"Hmm…" He hummed, his eyes on Eren. "Since you're out here, I'm going to make you do at least one thing."

I sighed inwardly. Of course the captain would do that. So much for my day off. Resigning myself to the inevitable, I took a deep breath and listened closely to him.

"Tell me what that brat up there is doing wrong." Levi commanded, gesturing to Eren who was currently struggling to right himself after a failed attempt to spin and landing on his face. I watched as Eren attempted again and saw he curling in a bit in an effort to twist.

"He's curling up, sir." I stated, blinking a few times. I turned to look at Levi who was nodding while glaring distastefully at Eren as a wound on his arm steamed and healed almost instantly.

"Jaeger!" Levi barked, causing Eren to snap to attention.

"Uh, yes sir?" He asked nervously.

"You heard Sakamoto! Don't curl up when you spin! Go!" Levi commanded, pointing to the trees.

"R-Right!" Eren stammered before launching himself away. He flew through the trees and, finally, started spinning. Eren being Eren, of course, got too excited and broke out of it, crashing into a tree once again.

"Eren!" I snarled angrily. "For humanity's sake focus!"

Eren was my friend, but that boy pissed me off to no end with how much of an idiot he was. I was in a bad mood to begin with, so anything Eren did that was slightly stupid was multiplied ten times. I muttered a few profanities under my breath and felt eyes burning into me. I looked over to Levi who looked genuinely surprised.

"Um, Captain?" I asked cautiously. He blinked and shook his head then returned to his usual emotionless state.

"You heard your girlfriend, Jaeger!" Levi called gruffly. I choked on air and looked to Levi, bewildered. At that point, Eren had been maneuvering through the trees and at the words that slipped past the corporal's lips, he crashed right into a tree with a yelp.

"Captain Levi!? With all due respect sir, _**what the hell are you talking about?!**_" I growled, my face flushing with embarrassment. I glanced over at Eren and saw he was laying on his back with his arm over his eyes as he groaned.

"Why does everybody think that?!" Eren moaned from the ground. Levi's face gave away no emotion, but I could tell he was laughing inwardly. My eyes flashed dangerously.

"Oh? You two aren't dating? Really?" Levi questioned, his eyebrows lifting a bit. He looked away and muttered something that sounded like, "Seems you're the only ones who don't know it." Before I could snap at him, he looked back up, his expression emotionless once again. "Dismissed, go to Hanji's office, she requested you two to see her."

"Yes, sir." I grumbled, glaring at him as I turned to walk away. Eren hurried after me and almost tripped when he slowed down. "Even the god damned captain?!"

"Even the god damned captain." Eren agreed quietly. I hissed and discreetly looked over my shoulder to see Levi was on the verge of smiling. He caught my glance and quickly scowled before turning away to gather the things he had brought out. I shook my head and looked forward again. "What do you think Hanji wants?"

"You can never know with Hanji." I answered darkly. That woman confused me to no end. "Let's just get it over with before someone thinks we're on a fucking date in her lab."

Eren let out a breathy laugh and nodded, staring straight ahead.


	5. Chapter 5

As it turned out, Hanji had only wanted to go over exactly what happened during her last experiment a last time before she let us go. Eren immediately said he had to talk to Armin about something and hurried away, leaving me alone to bask in the glory of a headache and look for something to do until curfew.

As I aimlessly wandered the halls, I heard Armin talking, sounding distressed. Armin never sounded like this. As I listened to make sure nothing was wrong, I caught the feeling that this conversation was about me by what they were saying.

"Eren, you've gotta tell her! Nothing's gonna happen if you wait!" Armin practically pleaded.

"N-No! Y-You saw what she did to Connie! She could do that to me!" Eren hissed. _Definitely about me, but what is Armin talking about? Tell me what?_ I knew I shouldn't eavesdrop, but it had caught my attention and I was bored. Eren's voice turned pleading. "Maybe you could tell her!?"

"No, Eren! You have to do this yourself." _W-Wait! Does he-_ With that, I heard footsteps approaching the door. With the speed of only someone who had been number two in cadets, I sprinted away. I ran and ran until I crashed head on into the only person ranked higher than me; Mikasa.

"Mi-Mikasa!" I stammered from the floor where we had both been knocked. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I was just distracted!"

"It's okay." Mikasa stated, pulling herself to her feet. With one look at me, her eyes narrowed in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yes! Yes, I'm fine!" I answered quickly, waving my hands in front of my face and smiling far too wide. When her gaze only narrowed further, I dropped my act (and my hands) and sighed deeply, looking at the floor. "Mikasa, can you come to my room? I need to talk to you."

"Mm." She responded with a nod.

When we finally made it back to my room, Sasha was with Connie planning some kind of prank. I was used to this by now. The only condition I had was no pranks on me. When they saw me with Mikasa their eyes widened in terror.

"Ah-hah, Sayomi and Mikasa! What brings you here?" Sasha asked nervously. It took one look and they were both gone, screaming down the hallway.

"Come sit down." I suggested, patting a spot next to me on the bed. She nodded and took her spot before looking at me intently. I gulped and avoided her gaze.

"Is this about Eren?" She asked softly, putting a hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I gave her a surprised look so she explained. "He was freaking out a little while ago about something."

"About what?" I asked in what I hoped nonchalance.

"Oh, he just has a little crush is all." Mikasa answered with a small smile. "You and his crush are pretty close."

"Sasha?" I asked incredulously. Mikasa actually laughed.

"No," She chuckled. "You're even closer."

"Mi-Mikasa? Does Eren like _me?_" I asked, panicky. _I told him not to get close to me! He can't end up like Max and Felicity!_

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you, but I'm sure you can pick up the signs." With that stated, she stood up and left me alone to my thoughts. I didn't even know what friendship was, how should I have known what love was!? Was love that fluttery feeling I got whenever Eren was near me!? Was it that urge to smile non-stop when that dork talked to me!? _Armin will know, right!? I need to find Armin!_

I leaped off the bed and bolted to the dining hall. Everyone should have been having dinner at the time. I kicked the doors in and went straight to Armin and Mikasa. Eren wasn't there which I was thankful for. Before either of them could question me, I snatched Armin's wrist and dragged him from the room, leaving his dinner on the table. He struggled for about a minute until I stopped in a common room with a fireplace and chairs.

"Armin," I started, panicking still. "Do you know what love is!?"

"Love?" He questioned. I nodded. "Why?"

"Because- Because I think I'm in love!" I exclaimed, terrified. Armin nodded, closing his eyes.

"Well, love is… Love is an intense feeling of deep affection. Like, when you want that person to be safe forever and they make you happy whenever they are around. It's wanting to stay with that person forever and never leave their side." Armin explained, placing a finger on his chin. "May I ask who you think you're in love with?"

"E-Eren." I answered cautiously, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Armin chuckled and nodded.

"Finally came to your senses, huh?" He laughed. I gave him a confused look. "Well, everyone knows except you and Eren really. Sasha and Connie probably have a bet on it."

"Everybody knows?! E-Even, I don't know, Bertold or someone!?" I demanded frantically. Armin merely nodded. I blinked at him in silence. I took a deep breath and finally spoke in a calm voice. "Where is Eren?"

"I think he's out in the stables with the rest of the Special Ops Squad." He smiled kindly. I sighed shakily and nodded in thanks before walking out of the room. My knees felt weak as I made my way down the halls and out to the stables. Luckily for me, I didn't have to look for Eren. Unluckily, I walked right into him.

"Watch where you're going next time!" He exclaimed mock angrily. I glanced up into his smiling eyes and immediately looked away, cheeks tinting pink. "You okay?"

"Ye-Yeah. I'm okay, I just…" I trailed off. My throat suddenly felt very dry. I saw Eren frown and tilt his head out of the corner of my eye.

"You just…?" He urged. I took a deep breath and looked him dead in the eye.

"Eren, I think I'm in love." I stated. He started to ask who but I cut him off with an exasperated sigh and eye roll before grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him down so our lips met. He instantaneously kissed me back. After a few seconds we pulled apart to the sound of cheering. We jumped and looked over to a hay bale only to see Hanji literally leaping for joy with a very annoyed Levi standing next to her, trying to ignore her and pretend he was anywhere but there.

"WOOHOO! Ten bucks baldy!" I heard Sasha scream. I whipped my head around and spotted her standing behind a nearby bush with an ecstatic look on her face. A hand poked up and gave her a ten dollar bill. I looked back at Eren who had a stupid grin on his face again.

"God, you're such a dork." I murmured, smiling lightly.

**~Fin~**


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